How LIBERALS want to BAN PERSONAL WATERCRAFT

This thread will be dedicated to exposing the efforts of socialist liberals to destroy the personal watercraft industry in the name of "environmentalism," and destroy our personal freedoms as Americans.

To my knowledge, this is now perhaps the largest single database on PWC access issues anywhere on the internet; loaded with tons of personal research and facts. My thanks goes out to Jerry for making it a sticky, and I hope you enjoy it.

As real Americans know, one of the overall schemes of the socialist "Global Warming Movement" is to reduce and restructure all industrial and economic activity of the U.S., and they are starting by hitting the easy targets first. As you may be aware, the National Park Service has banned personal watercraft from many National Parks, but what you may not know is exactly WHO has been putting pressure on the National Park Service to ban our beloved watercraft.

"Floating Chainsaws" - A little history...

If you do a little digging, you'll find one entity has been heavily involved in this attack on PWC at both the state and federal levels; BLUEWATER NETWORK. Many of you in the PWC industry are already familiar with BWN, but of course new PWC owners need to be aware of the name.

Bluewater Network, (more recently merged with Friends of the Earth) a radical environmental group headed up by Russell Long, has long fought to erode the rights of PWC owners, along with restricting snowmobiles and ATV's across the nation and around the world. His original website featured a long list of PWC and other motorized vehicle related horror stories from the media, designed to to further his agenda of getting what he calls "motorized thrillcraft" off the waterways and increasing the hatred of our hobbies. No one likes pollution, but a careful review of this group will reveal a far more sweeping agenda.

It appears that Bluewater Network sued our National Park Service in order to force them to OUTLAW PERSONAL WATERCRAFT and negate our rights as Americans to use them in huge areas of the national parks which belong to us.

From Boat/US Magazine, 2001:
"When the National Park Service announced it would ban personal watercraft (PWC) from all its parks unless the popular boats could he proven environmentally safe, the Personal Watercraft Industry Association (PWIA) came out swinging.

Following a settlement reached with the Bluewater Network which had sued the agency over its PWC policy, PWIA Executive Director Monita Fontaine said the industry and PWC users were locked out of negotiations.
Bluewater sued the agency over its policy, enacted in April 2000, which banned PWC at 66 sites but allowed continued use at 21 parks, including 10 national recreation areas where watersports had been a "primary purpose."
In the suit filed last August, Bluewater alleged that the agency violated federal law requiring NPS to "leave park resources unimpaired for future generations." Bluewater contends that PWCs damage the environment, endanger public health and safety and harm wildlife.
The settlement, announced Dec. 20, extends the ban to such popular PWC boating waters as Lake Mead National passed Cunningham's bill by wide margins."http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._6/ai_71766931

So, where did Bluewater Network get its funding?
From ultra-left radicals like TED TURNER, of course. In an interview with Bay Crossings/Newsmaker, Russell Long admitted that, "Ted Turner and his foundation have been one of our most steadfast supporters over the years." Most real Americans already know Ted Turner's agenda involves not only protecting wildlife---Ted's agenda calls for reducing people. As Turner recently told PBS,---“We have global warming, because too many people are using too much stuff. If there were less people, they'd be using less stuff."

In the late 90's, Bluewater Network worked hard to hammer PWC into the grave. Even after the NPS released new regulations, the radicals stomped and fumed against our freedoms. Russell Long, Director of Bluewater Network said, "These regulations are like Swiss cheese, there are so many holes in them. Americans are besieged by jet skis on virtually every water body in the US. We need to be able to get away from them somewhere. It's up to the Park Service to draw the line." According to these radicals, so-called "Thrill craft" damage park resources, and degrade the wilderness experience for other visitors. They claim that "the harmful effects include increased conflicts with other recreation users, toxic water pollution, noise disturbances, harassed and injured wildlife, and increased boating accidents".... the liberals are fond of telling the public that "According to the California Air Resources Board, a two hour thrill ride on a 100 hp PWC emits the same amount of pollution as driving a 1998 passenger vehicle 139,000 miles." But it doesn't stop there---BWN claims that "Jet skis are floating chainsaws, emitting high levels of toxic pollution and irritating noise. This is an inappropriate form of recreation in areas which symbolize our national heritage," said Sean Smith, Bluewater Network's Conservation Director.

Floating chainsaws? If you doubt any of this, PLEASE---do some research, poke around their old news releases and other material, you will be surprised to find a lot of this language can be found right in their published material.

What have these radical liberals and global warming agendists given us today?
Let's ask the Personal Watercraft Industry Association--representing all U.S. personal watercraft manufacturers, from the PWIA website:

"In March 2000, as a result of a lawsuit brought forth by an anti-boating group, the National Park Service (NPS) issued a rule prohibiting personal watercraft (PWC) use throughout the entire national parks system. All other types of motorized boating remain allowed; only PWC were banned. The PWC industry believes this rule was flawed from the start, since it was not supported by any environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, nor did it include an economic impact analysis.
The NPS did recognize, however, that PWC use was presumptively appropriate in 21 specific units, where recreational boating was prominent. The NPS allowed PWC use to continue in these units for a two-year grace period, during which time each unit was supposed to evaluate PWC and, if appropriate, reauthorize PWC use. These 21 park units would have to conduct a full NEPA analysis (environmental assessment) and complete a special rulemaking to authorize PWC use beyond the grace period. Despite this 24-month window to complete the analyses, not a single park unit complied.

Five of those 21 park units immediately indicated no intention to review future PWC use, even though the NPS had already determined that PWC use was presumptively appropriate in those units. The two-year period passed in 2002 and none of the remaining 16 parks completed the requisite environmental assessment and rulemakings, and as a result - PWC and the families who enjoy them were banned from their national parks.

To date, 15 of the 21 national parks units have completed a site-specific environmental assessment and every one of them has concluded that PWC present no unique impact on the environment and therefore should not be banned on waters that allow other types of motorized boating.
"It has been SEVEN YEARS since the National Park Service shut down the entire system to PWC use, and five years since the grace period to complete the assessments expired. These units that remain closed are closed because of bureaucratic delays. The NPS has completed 15 environmental assessments on PWC use in various units, and each and every one of them have supported re-introducing these vessels back in the park unit..."

Economic Harm Caused by PWC Bans
A study conducted by The Trade Partnership in 2006, supported by economic data used by the National Park Service in its NEPA analyses, estimated the total up and downstream economic impact caused by the bans in the national parks at more than $2.7 billion over the last nine years. The PWC industry alone has suffered an approximately $1.3 billion hit. Additionally, the study concludes that the bans have caused more than 3,300 American jobs to be lost, and for each year the bans persist, it costs the economy $567 million. The PWC industry feels these numbers are conservative, considering The Trade Partnership study does not examine the impact felt by small business owners who own and operate PWC dealerships."

Second, join active groups like the the American Watercraft Association...
For more information, visit: http://www.ridepwc.com

Third, don't vote for liberals---your votes count!
It has taken years, but Americans are slowly taking back the freedoms these radical liberals have taken from us. From 2003-2005, 15 National Parks have re-opened their waters to PWC, as the chart on the link below shows. But we should never forget the liberal socialists would like nothing better than to see this small boating industry destroyed and our PWC outlawed everywhere! More info here:http://www.pwia.org/relations/federallands.aspx

1 of the 3 that are still banded; Big Thicket National Preserve (TX)
This is my back yard. Some of the most kick ass riding one can do, and we can't even go there. I call their local office every 2-3 months and the liberal bird lovers that run the place could care less.

+1 by:

Kirk, that sucks bro, I wish you the best of success and hope they open that up for you soon. I will be posting much more information on this thread soon, so stay tuned...

I do know that president Bush has been working hard to open up some of these areas, in fact the Bush administration was successful opening Lake Meredith and Amistad National Recreation Areas both in Texas back in 2004, and Bluewater Network HATES president Bush for his efforts on behalf of PWC owners, you can read about that right here in this news release from their own website:http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/pres...pl_pwc_nps.pdf

+1 by:

I wrote the Blue Waternetwork a letter one time. I was on their website seeing what the bastards were up to one day. Somehow they got my address & sent some mail (big mistake). I actually layed in bed and handwrote a two page letter. I have not heard from them again.

Manatees, PWC and the liberal agendaHow lies about manatees are being used to restrict our PWC freedoms

From what I can see, one of the big reasons given by the liberals at Bluewater Network for outlawing PWC over the last eight years in places like Florida’s Biscayne National Park is the danger imposed upon wildlife from personal watercraft. In particular, a perceived danger to MANATEES---also called "sea cows," by the natives like me here in Florida.

The thrill of banning "thrillcraft"
This radical liberal group has published a news release on its website, which lists the Biscayne PWC ban among its so-called "victories" against the PWC industry. The following info is from that 2004 news release...

"In a stunning defeat for the personal watercraft industry, the National Park Service announced today that it is denying the Personal Watercraft Industry Association’s (PWIA) request that jetskis be permitted in Florida’s Biscayne National Park. Personal watercraft (PWC), better known by the trade name jetski, have been shown to cause significant damage to air and water quality, visitor enjoyment, public health and safety, natural soundscapes and wildlife...
In its response to the PWIA, the Park Service wrote that it had "considered the impact of PWC to Biscayne’s fragile natural areas, ENDANGERED MANATEES, and other visitors. As a result of that review the agency concluded that “no changes” in current PWC restrictions at Biscayne are warranted and the Park Service’s ban on the thrillcraft will remain in place."
You can read this right here:http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/pres...aynedenial.pdf

So, thanks to the Ted Turner funded radicals at Bluewater Network, who sued the National Park Service to force a ban on PWC in 2000, it would seem that a perceived danger to MANATEES is a significant part of what is upholding the ban of PWC in Florida’s Biscayne National Park.

A closer look at Manatees...
As a Florida native, this mention of PWC impacting manatees caught my eye, and prompted a little research. I like manatees, and no one wants to see an endangered species threatened.

However as of this date, I am surprised that I can find no documented evidence or even one documented case where a manatee has ever been killed by a PWC in American waters.
In over 1,400 cases of boat-related manatee kills, most are related to "blunt trauma impact,"---so I'm sure such deaths must have occurred, but I just can't find any solid evidence of a large percentage of them coming from PWC. Still, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission boldly proclaims on it's website that, "manatees can be killed or injured by personal watercraft." This I can certainly agree with---but do PWC kill more than boats with propellers?

Since these radical liberals are singling out PWC as the ONLY TYPE of banned watercraft, I expected to find Google references galore to show manatees being killed left and right by personal watercraft. I expected to see scores of newspaper articles with numerous dead and bloated sirenians alongside photos of damaged personal watercraft... but I can't find any.

However, I did find a few other interesting items...
for example there seems to be no documented evidence of a manatee being killed by any watercraft smaller than 16 feet in length in Florida waters!

No proof in the pudding?
In a recent, detailed study commissioned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and published in October 2007, it was reported that out of the 21 cases where the responsible boat is known, 16 involved planing hull boats ranging from 4.9 to 17.1 m (16 to 56 ft) in length, one involved a tug boat, one involved a barge, and the other 3 involved unidentified types of boats in the 12.2 to 13.7 m (40 to 45 ft) range. These cases cover all documented evidence going back to 1978. Certainly it is feasible to think that PWC can strike and kill a manatee, however the FFWCC report states that even though more than 1400 boat-related manatee deaths have been recorded, "little definitive information is available on the types or sizes of the boats that caused these deaths or on the circumstances involved in the collisions." The entire report can be reviewed here:http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2007/3/n003p295.pdf

I also found a letter dated Jan. 19, 2007 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirming they have ZERO DOCUMENTATION in their database of ANY manatee death or injury resulting from a collision with PWC in Florida waters! You can read that letter right here:http://www.pwia.org/pdf/FWCLetterabo...Manatee(2).pdf

So, how can these radical liberals prove that PWC are really killing manatees in numbers significant to warrant a demand for a ban on their operation? How can these socialist liberals get such traction in our legal system?

Are manatees safer with PWC?
Interestingly, some eco-minded groups seem to think PWC type propulsion may even save manatee lives.
WILDLIFE TRUST is a respected, international organization of scientists dedicated to the protection of nature and safeguarding ecosystems. For more than 35 years, Wildlife Trust has focused its efforts on conservation. According to the scientists at the Wildlife Trust, it appears that PWC type propulsion may actually be far safer for manatees than propeller driven boats. The group's website currently presents the following information...

"In Florida, the main cause of human-related manatee mortality is propeller driven boats. Manatees are killed and injured by the lacerations from propellers, but a higher percentage die from blunt trauma caused by impact with the crankshaft housing ("lower unit"). Water jet propulsion, similar but technologically superior to that used in personal water craft (jet skis), drives a boat with no external propeller or crankshaft, dramatically reducing the risk to manatees. Over the next five years, as funding allows, we will be testing these types of watercraft to investigate their feasibility to reduce the risk of manatee/boat collisions."http://www.wildlifetrust.org/news/2005/0501a_edge.htm

Saving manatees, or just liberal agenda?
All of this begs the question, if no one knows for sure the percentage of manatees killed by PWC, and some scientists think PWC type propulsion may actually save manatee lives, then how is it that manatee deaths are being used as legal leverage by liberals to ban PWC from National Park waters in Florida? Does that seem strange to you? Is it possible that this is all part of a bigger plan by socialist liberals to shut down and/or restructure U.S. economic activity and reduce the boating industry over a number of years?

Is it possible for liberals to ban our PWC from American waters based on speculation and nonsense?
YES!---we have seen how the National Park Service was sued by Bluewater Network, and forced to ban PWC from Biscayne National Park in South Florida, and they were the ONLY type of watercraft that was banned. To this day, Florida PWC riders are forced to endanger themselves and go 12 MILES OFFSHORE IN THE OCEAN to avoid the 17 mile stretch of Intracoastal Waterway that runs through the park. Have you ever had your 12 foot long PWC 12 miles off shore in the Atlantic? Is it possible that someone is more concerned about manatee safety than they are human safety? You can read more about that here:http://www.boatbiscayne.com/

Want to help?

First, educate others on forums and chat rooms, about this issue.

Second, join active groups like the the American Watercraft Association...
For more information, visit: http://www.ridepwc.com

Don't vote for liberal politicians!
Let's face it, if you're a PWC rider, why on earth would you vote for a liberal? We have already seen how liberalism---empowered by the media---can drive U.S. government policy with junk science like the socialist global warming movement, so it should be no surprise that they have attacked our PWC freedoms across the nation, based at least in part on nothing more than lies, distortion and false perceptions. Manatees are great, but allowing socialist liberals to take control of our American waterways---is just silly.

Dont get me started on the dam manatees i paid upwards of $500 fines for riding at a local lake called the blue lagoon where there are supposed to be many manatees i ride these waters constantly and have never even seen one of these animals.And to say the least Yoyama is absolutley right about jetskis being safer then propelar driven boats for manatees im pretty sure the jetski would just skip over the animal with very minimal damage or none at all depending on what postion the animal is in when the craft goes over him.